270,000 Tons of Plastic in World’s Oceans: Study Finds

December 14, 2014 10:47 AM

11
0

A new study has estimated that there are approximately 5.25 trillion particles of plastic weighing in at 270,000 tons floating on the surface of the world’s oceans. The study’s co-author Dr Marcus Eriksen told Wall Street OTC that an equivalent amount of plastic would be used if 2 liter plastic water bottles were stacked end to end all the way to the moon and back twice.

To collect their samples the researchers dragged a fine mesh net across the ocean’s surface to gather small pieces of plastics caught on the surface of the water. They sampled only plastic floating on the surface of the water and larger plastics were surveyed by those researchers who were on the boa...